Ken Blackwell

John Kenneth Blackwell (born February 28, 1948) is an American politician of the Republican party, who currently (as of 2005) serves as the secretary of state for the U.S. state of Ohio. He is running for the Republican nomination for governor of Ohio in the 2006 election. Blackwell gained national prominence because of his official actions in matters relating to the disputed voting on November 2, 2004, including that for the U.S. Presidency and for state and county offices.

Contents

1 Early years 2 Political career 3 Involvement in the 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy 3.1 List of legal suits 4 See also 5 External links

Early years

Blackwell received a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1970 and his master of education degree, also from Xavier, in 1971. He taught at Xavier from 1974 to 1991 and has served as a trustee of Wilberforce University and Wilmington College. While attending Xavier, Blackwell became a popular college football star. After college, he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys professional football club.

Political career

From 1979 to 1980, Blackwell, an African American, served as mayor of Cincinnati as a member of the Charter Party. As mayor and as a member of the Cincinnati, Ohio, city council, Blackwell was at times a Democrat and also a member of the Charter Party; however, he switched to the Republican party at some point during the 1980s.

Blackwell served in the administration of President George H.W. Bush as deputy undersecretary in the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1989 to 1990, when he returned to Cincinnati to run for the First District seat in the United States House of Representatives being vacated by Tom Luken. Blackwell lost to Thomas's son Charlie Luken. Following his defeat, President Bush appointed Blackwell ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Blackwell served in that post from 1992 to 1993.

Blackwell was appointed Ohio state treasurer by Gov. George Voinovich in 1993 to complete the term of Mary Ellen Withrow, who was appointed U.S. treasurer by President Bill Clinton. Blackwell was elected treasurer in 1994 and was elected Ohio secretary of state in 1998. That year, Blackwell considered a run for governor, but Ohio Republican Party chairman Robert T. Bennett persuaded Blackwell to run for secretary of state instead, leaving the governorship open to Bob Taft. In 2000, Blackwell supported the candidacy of Malcolm S. "Steve" Forbes Jr. for the Republican nomination for president. Blackwell was re-elected secretary of state in 2002.

Blackwell, a strict fiscal and social conservative, has become a vocal critic of the moderate wing of the Ohio Republican Party, including Gov. Bob Taft, for adopting tax increases in the face of budget shortfalls in recent years. He has also demanded the resignation of Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder, another Republican, whose staff has become embroiled in fund-raising scandals.

In 2004, Blackwell served as the co-chair of the Committee to Re-elect George W. Bush in Ohio. He was also the most prominent Republican to support adding a marriage amendment to the state constitution. The state's Republican U.S. Senators Mike DeWine and George Voinovich opposed the amendment's broad language, which appeared to bar not only same-sex marriage but also civil unions, domestic partnerships, and possibly wills and any legal contracts for homosexuals. Republican Governor Taft later also came out against the amendment, expressing his concern that its ambiguous language would have unintended consequences and leave the state open to a number of lawsuits. During the campaign Blackwell lobbied hard for this measure and was widely credited with attracting many conservative evangelical African Americans to the polls to vote for the measure and for Bush's re-election. He was, however, widely criticized for stating that same-sex couples "did not have the sense of barnyard animals" [1] (http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=2457596), [2] (http://www.kenblackwell.com/news.asp?formmode=release&id=45).

He is a candidate for governor in 2006. After the 2004 election, he was criticized for having laid the groundwork for a gubernatorial campaign by sending a fundraising letter that solicited corporate contributions, which are illegal in Ohio. A Blackwell campaign officer blamed the printer for the mistake. [3] (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1134&slug=Ohio%20Election%20Chief)

There has been some speculation that Blackwell might try for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

Involvement in the 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy

Blackwell's position as Secretary of State of a hotly contested swing state led to his playing a prominent role in the controversy concerning the 2004 U.S. presidential election, both before and after the voting on November 2.

As Secretary of State, Blackwell's duties also include the position of Chief Elections Officer, overseeing the elections process for the state. Many have argued that there is a direct conflict of interest regarding Blackwell's positions as both the Chief Elections Officer and the co-chair of the Committee to Re-elect George Bush in Ohio.

In September 2004, Blackwell came under fire when his office directed Ohio's county election boards to strictly enforce a rule that requires voter registration cards to be printed on a certain weight of paper. Cards printed on lighter paper, such as newsprint or typing paper, are to be considered applications for a registration and a card is to be sent to that voter to be filled out again and resubmitted.

Democrats alleged that this rule was outdated in the era of computerization and served only to disenfranchise new voters. Blackwell also announced that, in keeping with Ohio State election law, persons who appeared at a polling place to vote but whose registrations could not be confirmed would be given provisional ballots (as required by the federal Help America Vote Act) if they applied for a provisional ballot in the correct precinct.

On October 21, 2004, a U.S. District Court judge, who was adjudicating a complaint regarding Blackwell's decisions on provisional ballots, stated in an order rejecting Blackwell's policy that "Blackwell apparently seeks to accomplish the same result in Ohio in 2004 that occurred in Florida in 2000." Blackwell immediately appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which reversed the District Court decision (pdf) (http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/election2004/mscland102604ord.pdf).

Various Democrats and advocacy groups have accused Blackwell of state-wide voter suppression in Ohio, including:

• Failure to process voter registrations
• Uneven voting machine allocation
• Arbitrary and unreasonable exclusionary procedures in provisional ballot counting

(See 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy, vote suppression)

Democratic members of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary have asked Kenneth Blackwell to explain irregularities in the Ohio election in two letters (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf) (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellfollowupltr12304.pdf), and requested his presence at a Public Congressional Hearing (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohvotinghrgadvisory12304.pdf). He did not attend the hearing, and he responded to the first letter, refusing to comply with their request, noting that he was responding to requests from the GAO and Department of Justice, the bodies authorized by Congress to assess alleged violations. (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellresp121404.pdf)

Kenneth Blackwell was asked to recuse himself from the recount process in Ohio by:

• Black Box Voting (http://www.blackboxvoting.org)
• Common Cause
• Alliance for Democracy (http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org)
• Move On (http://www.moveon.org)
• Jesse Jackson

The People for the American Way (http://www.pfaw.org) foundation has filed a lawsuit against Blackwell accusing him of implementing arbitrary and unreasonable procedures for the counting of provisional ballots. [4] (http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=17471) 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry has started a petition in support of this cause (http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/ballot.php).

2004 presidential candidates David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, represented by the National Voter Rights Institute (http://www.nvri.org), have filed a lawsuit against Blackwell accusing him of stalling the Ohio recount and abusing his authority. [5] (http://www.votecobb.org/press/2004/dec/pr2004-12-02.php)

Keith Olbermann has interviewed Blackwell regarding the 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy. (video) (http://video.lisarein.com/election2004/msnbc/11-29-04/)

He has also been asked a number of questions by reporters. (video, rm) (http://easylink.d2productions.net/votecobb/votecobb03.rm)

On December 11, 2004, Blackwell was accused by volunteer election researchers/observers Joan Quinn and Eve Robertson of interfering with the transparent election process by illegally ordering the Greene County Board of Elections to "lock-down" all election records and remove them from the public domain, in direct violation of Ohio Revised Code Title XXXV Elections, Sec. 3503.26, which provides for all election records to be made available for public inspection. ORC Sec. 3599.161 makes it a crime for any Board of Elections employee to interfere with the public inspection of such records, and ORC Sec 3599.42 states that a violation of these provisions of the ORC shall constitute a prima facie case of election fraud. [6] (http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121404Z.shtml) [7] (http://www.yuricareport.com/2004%20Election%20Fraud/OhioVoteFraudBattleHeatsUp.html)

On December 17, 2004, Senator John Kerry's and Senator John Edwards' state counsel for Ohio issued a letter to Kenneth Blackwell demanding an official investigation into voting machine tampering in Hocking County. (story) (http://rawstory.com/exclusives/kerry_1216.php) (letter, pdf) (http://www.miamedia.com/news/2004-12-15.mctigue.balckwell.letter.pdf)

On December 27, 2004, Kenneth Blackwell requested a protective order to prevent him from being interviewed as part of a court challenge of the presidential vote; fought a subpoena. (AP) (http://www.nbc4i.com/politics/4027481/detail.html) (AP) (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002132450_ohiovote28.html)(freepress) (http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/1046)

List of legal suits

• Moss v. Bush [8] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-recounts.html#moss)
• Beacon Journal Publishing Company, Inc. and Charlene Nevada v. J. Kenneth Blackwell and the Board of Elections [9] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-abc.html#beacon)
• Lucas County Democratic Party et al v. Blackwell [10] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/eligibility_rules_lucas.html)
• The Sandusky County Democratic Party v. J. Kenneth Blackwell [11] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/provisional-sandusky.html)
• The Sandusky County Democratic Party v. J. Kenneth Blackwell [12] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/provisional-sandusky-app.html)
• The League of Women Voters of Ohio et al v. Blackwell [13] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/provisional-lowv.html)
• State ex rel. Essig et al. v. Blackwell (pdf) (http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/0/2004/2004-ohio-5586.pdf)
• Miller et al v. Blackwell et al [14] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/eligibility_rules_lucas.html)
• Spencer v. Blackwell [15] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-spencer.html)
• Summit County Democratic Central and Executive Committee et al v. Blackwell et al [16] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-summit.html)
• American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. et al v. Blackwell [17] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-abc.html)
• State of Ohio Ex Rel. Matthew Wolf, et al. v. Blackwell [18] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-wolf.htm)
• Sarah White v. J. Kenneth Blackwell and the Board of Elections of Lucas County, Ohio [19] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-white.htm)
• Nader et al v. Blackwell [20] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation.html#nader)
• Schering v. Blackwell [21] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-litigation.html#schering)
• Ohio Democratic Party v. Blackwell [22] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-litigation.html#schering)
• Anita Rios et al v. Blackwell [23] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-recounts.html)
• State ex. rel David Yost et al v. National Voting Rights Institute et al [24] (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-recounts.html)

See also

• Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 1st District.

External links

• Official biography on Secretary of State's site, with photo (http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/blackwell/index.html)
• Ohioans for Blackwell (http://www.kenblackwell.com/index.asp) - gubernatorial campaign site
• Ken Blackwell profile, NNDB (http://www.nndb.com/people/209/000053050/).
• Articles from TruthOut.org (http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=kenneth+blackwell&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&vst=0&vs=www.truthout.org)
• Articles from CrisisPapers.org (http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=kenneth+blackwell&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&vst=0&vs=crisispapers.org)
• Articles from FreePress.org (http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=kenneth+blackwell&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&vst=0&vs=freepress.org)
• Articles from FromTheWilderness.com (http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=kenneth+blackwell&sm=Yahoo%21+Search&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&vst=0&vs=fromthewilderness.com)
• The Chicago Tribune: The anti-Obama [25] (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0502110043feb11,1,129879.story?coll=chi-leisuretempo-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true)

Preceded by: Robert A. Taft II	Ohio Secretary of State 1999-present	Succeeded by: None
Preceded by: Mary Ellen Withrow	Ohio State Treasurer 1994-1999	Succeeded by: Joseph T. Deters
Preceded by: Bobbie L. Sterne	Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio 1979-1980	Succeeded by: David S. Mann